Author: Michael Potter
Deer are a headache problem of many gardeners. They can invade food, flower gardens and even can wipe out the area they go through.
So, do deer eat sunflowers? This may be a common question of many gardeners. Some people are planning to plant sunflowers in their gardens but do not know if deer can damage them.
Let’s go through this article to find the answer. And if the truth is that deer love sunflowers, how can you keep them from your garden? Here is probably all you want to know
Do Deer Eat Sunflowers?
A piece of sad news for those who want to plant sunflowers is that deer love sunflowers and especially like leaves. Even very high sunflowers are not safe from their reach.
Most people think of sunflowers as a great dove field plot, but it is also good for deer. Sunflower is rich in protein, so it becomes their favorite food source. Young sunflower plants and growing seed heads seem particularly delicious to deer.
Therefore, many gardeners had problems with deer because they ate plants (in particular sunflowers) in their gardens. If you do not know how to stop them, they can destroy your garden.
How To Keep Deer From Your Sunflower Garden?
So, you already know the answer to the question “Do deer eat sunflowers?”, right? As we mentioned above, in case you want to grow sunflowers, it is essential to find a way to keep deer from your garden.
Because there is a possibility that when you are not at home, they will come and invade your sunflowers. To keep deer from eating their way through your garden, here are some solutions you can follow:
Protective fences
The protective fence is probably the easiest and most effective solution to deterring deer. To keep deer out, a fence must expand partly underground and not have gaps larger than 6×6 inches, where deer can crawl under or squeeze through.
The deer will go around the fence to find a way to attack inside so make sure you enclose your entire garden.
A fence needs to be at least 8 feet tall or more. Keep in mind that some deer can even clear an 8-foot fence if there are no obstacles such as tree branches, angled netting or something like that.
And sometimes the best fence is no fence at all. At the zoo, people often separate giraffes, zebras, and antelopes from us humans with a wide border of large, irregularly shaped rocks instead of a fence.
This is because these animals will not walk on unstable rock areas. So, deer are the same. Building a 6 to 8 feet wide fence of large rocks around your sunflower garden will make it impossible for deer to enter.
Deer deterrent sprays
There are several deer deterrent sprays available on the market such as rotten eggs and water, pepper spray, soap spray, and more. However, once you apply this method, make sure that your spray is as organic as possible.
Some gardeners even lure deer away by growing their favorite foods in another area where is far from your sunflower garden.
Prevent deer by threatening them
Many people deter deer by putting strips of tinfoil or clattering aluminum pans in the garden. However, this method is completely ineffective for domesticated deer. Instead, you can use motion-activated sprinklers.
As the deer approach, these sprinklers will sense motion and deliver a strong burst of water in the direction of the movement. This will scare the deer and send them running away.
You can also easily adjust the range of the sprinkler’s aim to target an exact area. Therefore, the use of these sprinklers is the favorite solution of many gardeners to protect their sunflowers.
Grow plants as taste-based repellents
Deer depend heavily on their sense of smell. If something smells not attractive to them, they will avoid it. Deer like plants and trees that taste good, like humans.
If you can make your plants unattractive to the sense of smell or taste of deer, they will go elsewhere to get food. For these reasons, some gardeners plant hot spicy herbs and other plants around the trees and shrubs they want to protect.
Some deer-repelling plants often have a strong aroma such as mint, lavender, chives or garlic.
The Bottom Lines
To sum up, for the question “Do deer eat sunflowers?”, the answer is Yes. Deer love to eat sunflowers especially leaves. So, if you want to grow sunflowers in the garden, try one of the methods to keep deer out that we have just given above.
Hopefully, you have found our article useful and feel free to like and share it if you want. Thank you for reading!
